Related papers: Perturbations in bouncing cosmologies: dynamical a…
We review matter bounce scenarios where the matter content is dark matter and dark energy. These cosmologies predict a nearly scale-invariant power spectrum with a slightly red tilt for scalar perturbations and a small tensor-to-scalar…
We propose that several of the anomalies that have been observed at large angular scales in the CMB have a common origin in a cosmic bounce that took place before the inflationary era. The bounce introduces a new physical scale in the…
A bouncing cosmology with an initial matter-dominated phase of contraction during which scales which are currently probed with cosmological observations exit the Hubble radius provides a mechanism alternative to inflation for producing a…
We study the evolution of cosmological perturbations in a non-singular bouncing cosmology with a bounce phase which has superimposed oscillations of the scale factor. We identify length scales for which the final spectrum of fluctuations…
We study two-field bouncing cosmologies in which primordial perturbations are created in either an ekpyrotic or a matter-dominated contraction phase. We use a non-singular ghost condensate bounce model to follow the perturbations through…
With the new cosmological data gathered over the last few years, the inflationary paradigm has seen its predictions largely unchallenged. A recent proposal, called the ekpyrotic scenario, was argued to be a viable competitor as it was…
In this paper we study the evolution of cosmological perturbations through a nonsingular bouncing universe using covariant perturbation theory and examine the validity of linear perturbation theory. The bounce is modeled by a two component…
If the linear perturbation theory is valid through the bounce, the surviving fluctuations from the ekpyrotic scenario (cyclic one as well) should have very blue spectra with suppressed amplitude for the scalar-type structure. We derive the…
Bouncing cosmologies, while offering a compelling alternative to inflationary models, face challenges from the growth of vector perturbations during the contracting phase. While linear vector instabilities can be avoided with specific…
Certain features in the primordial scalar power spectrum are known to improve the fit to the cosmological data. We examine whether bouncing scenarios can remain viable if future data confirm the presence of such features. In inflation, the…
When coupling fermions to gravity, torsion is naturally induced. We consider the possibility that fermion bilinears can act as a source for torsion, altering the dynamics of the early universe such that the big bang gets replaced with a…
It has been shown that a contracting universe with a dust-like ($w \approx 0$) fluid may provide an almost scale invariant spectrum for the gravitational scalar perturbations. As the universe contracts, the amplitude of such perturbations…
Being able to reliably track perturbations across bounces and turnarounds in cyclic and bouncing cosmology lies at the heart of being able to compare the predictions of these models with the Cosmic Microwave Background observations. This…
We consider non-singular bouncing cosmologies, such as the new ekpyrotic model, in which the universe undergoes a slow contraction phase with equation of state $w \gg 1$, followed by a bounce that occurs at a finite scale factor when…
One of the greatest problems of standard cosmology is the Big Bang singularity. Previously it has been shown that non-local ghostfree higher-derivative modifications of Einstein gravity in the ultra-violet regime can admit non-singular…
We investigate cosmological scenarios containing one canonical scalar field with an exponential potential in the context of bouncing models, where the bounce happens due to quantum cosmological effects. The only possible bouncing solutions…
Combining intervals of ekpyrotic (ultra-slow) contraction with a (non-singular) classical bounce naturally leads to a novel cyclic theory of the universe in which the Hubble parameter, energy density and temperature oscillate periodically,…
We study the cosmology of a Lee-Wick type scalar field theory. First, we consider homogeneous and isotropic background solutions and find that they are nonsingular, leading to cosmological bounces. Next, we analyze the spectrum of…
We show that a contracting universe which bounces due to quantum cosmological effects and connects to the hot big-bang expansion phase, can produce an almost scale invariant spectrum of perturbations provided the perturbations are produced…
We present a full investigation of scalar perturbations in a rather generic model for a regular bouncing universe, where the bounce is triggered by an effective perfect fluid with negative energy density. Long before and after the bounce…